Silver
Snaffle Stables in Richmond, Vermont is a great place to start riding.
It is also a quiet place to bond with your first horse. June Banks
has been working with horses since 1978. In the 4-H horse program
in Massachusetts, she learned about hard work, commitment, follow-through,
record-keeping and leadership. Since 1993, she has lead the 4-H
Trail Trotters horse club in Richmond, teaching the next generation
these values as well as a love of horses and the joy of just being
around them. She married her husband, David Banks, in 1990 and they
had a son, Travis, born in 1995. Though they have lived in Richmond
since 1993, the barn wasn't built until 2005. Karmel moved with
them from Massachusetts. He was June's second horse, purchased as
a two-year old in 1983. He is still giving lessons and taking adventures
with June.

For
some people, horses are what they do. For me, it's a part of me
and who I am.

June
Banks and Karmel

Green
Horsekeeping

Many
horse owners are thrifty, frugal and mothers of invention. Silver
Snaffle Stables does their part to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Reduce
- erosion by having sacrifice areas so pastures do not get overgrazed,
water runoff from barn goes into pastures to keep them green; water
consumption by not overflowing buckets and tubs, letting tubs get
low before dumping and scrubbing out, using water from buckets to
water plants; gas by getting grain on same errand as weekly shopping,
and grazing on lawn.

Reuse
- grain bags into trash bags; supplement tubs into meal portions;
baling twine into temporary fencing and lead ropes; large supplement
bucket for water buckets and grooming equipment storage; some rubber
mats came from a former barn; deck railings into saddle racks; refridgerator
shelves used as drying racks; paddock manure is composted, neighbors
take away and is used around plants and bare areas to grow grass;
stall manure is taken away for composting; downed trees are used
as deer barriers and small wildlife cover, larger logs used as firewood;
rocks from paddocks put around gardens and in run-off ditches.